Flanders today
december 9, 2009
I N DE P E N DE N T N E W S W e e k l y
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GIFT GUIDE.............. 7
Dossier Koen........ 11
The Flemish Environment Agency’s latest report reveals that Flanders’ carbon dioxide emissions are greater than those allowed by the Kyoto protocol. The government’s claim that emissions were down was in reference to much less dangerous gasses
Welcome December holiday shopping instead of running from it with the Flanders Today Gift Guide. We’ll show you which streets in which cities to target to make the most of your time
Koen De Bouw is back in Dossier K, a follow-up to the extraordinarily successful film De zaak Alzheimer. De Bouw describes the toughest scenes to film, while our critic tells us what to expect from the new flick
#109
CO2 emissions up. ... 6
agenda
interview
The ground is falling out from under the feet of Ghent residents
T
Nikolaj Nielsen
he wooden crates of Kandla White Beige stones imported from India have finally arrived, one month later than expected. But here they are, lined up against the Post Plaza, facing the mud caked and potholed Korenmarkt in the historic centre of Ghent. The stones, sawed and then carved by hand, are rectangular with rugged edges and will be used to turn the Korenmarkt
into a striking new square. Once cleaned and arranged, they will shimmer with tones of blue and grey. “They come from somewhere in Rajasthan,” says Paul Robbrecht, one of the chief architects involved in the project. “We checked to make sure the stones were properly excavated in the right way, and that everyone was paid,” he adds. The colours match Ghent’s historic buildings, but these stones were also selected because
the original quarry, located only 35 kilometres away, that supplied the stones for Ghent’s historic churches, is empty. Cut through the normally picturesque Korenmarkt, both the figurative and literal heart of the city, is a four metre-wide gap for a future tramline that will have a new stop on Cataloniestraat. The tramline dig, resulting in dust as far as the eye can see, is entirely fenced in, and a wooden footbridge allows pedestrians and cyclists to
criss-cross the area. Beyond the fencing, in front of the magnificent 12th-century Sint-Niklaas church – Ghent’s oldest – is a yellow bulldozer, construction material and a blue port-a-john.
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Down to earth De Winne ends historic space mission Alan Hope
Flemish astronaut Frank De Winne last week landed in Kazakhstan after a six-month stay on board the International Space Station (ISS) as the first European ever to command a mission. De Winne was immediately taken to the Russian base Star City, near Moscow, where he was due to be examined by Professor Floris Wuyts of Antwerp University, an expert on the effects of weightlessness. De Winne, 48, landed in Kazakhstan in a tiny module along with his Russian and Canadian colleagues Roman Romanenko and Robert Thirsk. Frank De Winne enjoys some fresh fruit after six months of spaceman diet
After a six-month stay in space, he looked thin and pale but was otherwise healthy. After landing, De Winne he remained for much of the time lying down, to avoid the shock of suddenly being subject to gravity again after being weightless for so long. One of the immediate effects of gravity is to pull the blood into the legs and away from the brain, heart and other organs. As usual in these situations, De Winne was placed on a tilting table which gradually brings him from a prone position to an angle of about 60 degrees, allowing the body to re-accustom itself to being upright.
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